David Clements, a candidate for U.S. Senate, doesn't have health insurance. And that bothers me.

Of course, a lot of things about the insurance industry in this country bother me. Add in the health-care industry, and we're well past bothered.

I got my first newspaper job at the La Junta (Colo.) Tribune Democrat in 1982, and have had health insurance (that I went for years without using) ever since — primarily for two reasons. One, I always purchased it through my employer, who contributed to part of the cost. And two, my dad pounded it into my head from an early age that if I ever suffered a catastrophic injury or illness without health insurance I would be financially ruined, and worse (in his eyes), I would have to rely on the charity of others to pay my bills.

During his candidate interview with our editorial board, Clements told us two things about his health insurance situation that can't both be true. First, that he had to make a choice between buying health insurance and eating. Then, when asked who he thought would pay the bill should he have a serious injury or illness, he responded, "I work under the presumption that I should have to pay for treatment."

So, he doesn't have enough money to cover the less than $150 a month for the bronze health insurance plan available on the state's new health exchange, but he does have enough to pay a hospital bill that could reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars?

Of course, Clements blamed his predicament on the Affordable Care Act.

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"I've lost my health insurance because of the policies of Obamacare," he declared somberly.

And sadly, I suspect that going uninsured and putting the risks on others to cover the costs should something go wrong will work to Clements' advantage in this year's primary race for U.S. Senate in what was once the party of personal responsibility. If he didn't think it would help him, he wouldn't have volunteered it.

Republicans know the success of the health care act depends on the enrollment of healthy, young people to balance the risk pool, and so they've done everything they can to prevent that from happening.

Remember the TV ads by the Koch Brothers-backed group Generation Opportunity featuring a creepy Uncle Sam popping up in the doctor's office that were designed to discourage healthy, young people from buying health insurance? Daniel Garza of the Libre Initiative wrote a column for this newspaper in which he argued that because the percentage of young, healthy Hispanics in the United States is higher than people of other origins, not only is Obamacare discriminatory, but so would be any attempt to bring young, healthy people into the health insurance pool.

The only way a market-based system for health insurance can work is if it includes young, healthy members like Clements. If they were all to follow his lead in shirking this responsibility, the market-based system would collapse. Would those now working so hard to make that happen rather have a single-payer system instead? That would be instructive for those who think Obamacare is socialism.

"Insurance is risk assessment," argued Clements, who is an attorney by trade but is now campaigning full time. That may be true, but not all insurance is alike, and neither are the risks. If you choose to go without homeowners insurance and your house burns down, that would make you homeless. But, if you choose to go without health insurance and you get in a horrible car accident, we will still send an ambulance to pick you up, take you to the hospital and give you treatment. And then when you can't pay your bill, it will be passed along to others.

Clements is smart enough to know that. He says he's taking a risk, but we're all covering his bet should he lose.

Walter Rubel is editorial page editor of the Las Cruces Sun-News, a sister paper of the Carlsbad Current-Argus. He can be reached at wrubel@lcsun-news.com or follow @WalterRubel on Twitter.